CLARENCE N.Y. (WKBW) — Many community members gathered with heavy hearts as they grieve the tragedies on Thursday, in the Bergum family.
The Eastern Hills church in Clarence hosted a praise and worship service, to help those hurting heal.
"We do this twice a year," Worship Arts Pastor Andi Merrill said. "We just get together to worship and pray together just kind of seeking after God. It happen to fall on a night that I think is important."
She reflects on the recent tragedy, and said the church doors are open to those in a dark place about it.
"What I love is that we're able to open our doors to a community that probably needs a place to grieve and heal," Merrill said. "We're supposed to be a light in a dark world. Today, for a lot of people feels very dark."
The Bergum and Merrill family, she said, were close. Her husband and her even sang at the Bergum's wedding and spent Thanksgivings with them. Merrill said she feels lost on the entire situation.
"My husband and I were up until one in the morning last night just...I don't even know how to process really yet," she said.
Numb is another way she describes her feelings about the situation.
Lead Pastor Pat Jones said things have been hard, especially since the Bergum family was so close to church members.
"The events the last couple of days have been heartbreaking, all kind of emotions have happened," Jones said.
Unity, he said, is what this praise and worship service is all about.
"Being able to come together to seek comfort, to seek peace, seek sanity in the midst of confusion that's kind of what we see tonight as," Jones said.
He said there is a fundraiser set up for the Bergum kids. If you are interested in donating, go to this website.
